State Representative Sean Lynn introduced two more bills to bring unwarranted geographic balance to the Courts of Delaware so that Sussex County feels like it as important and populous as New Castle County.
House Bill 237 is the first leg of a constitutional amendment to increase the number of Justices of the Supreme Court to 7 and to require that of the 7 Justices appointed to the Supreme Court, at least 2 must be residents of Kent County, at least 2 must be residents of Sussex County, and at least 2 must be residents of New Castle County. The seventh Justice may be from any county.
As you can tell above, I am dubious of these geographic balancing efforts, but Sean Lynn decided to give me a gift to win me over: Section 2 of this Act also removes the unconstitutional requirement that judges must be members of the Democratic and Republican parties and there must be a balance between the parties on the courts (Supreme Court, Court of Chancery, and Superior Court), such that, even though there has been no Republican Governor to appoint Republican justices since 1993, there are still Repubicans on the court even though, by all rights, there should not be.
| House Bill 237 – EXPANDING AND IMPOSING GEOGRAPHICAL REQUIREMENTS ON THE SUPREME COURT | Currrent Status – Out of Committee 6/29/23 |
| House Sponsors – Lynn | Senate Sponsors – Buckson |
| House Yes Votes – | Senate Yes Votes – |
| House No Votes – | Senate No Votes – |
| House Absents or Not Voting – | Senate Absent or Not Voting – |
House Bill 238 is the first leg of a constitutional amendment to require that at least 1 member of the Court of Chancery must be a resident of Kent County and at least 1 member of the Court of Chancery must be a resident of Sussex County.
Because the Court of Chancery currently consists of 6 residents of New Castle County and 1 resident of Sussex County, this Act applies beginning with the next vacancy of a member of the Court of Chancery who is a resident of New Castle County to occur, whether by expiration of term or otherwise, or with the next new Vice-Chancellor position created by Act of the General Assembly, whichever occurs first.
Since this both bills are constitutional amendments, they will need two thirds majority votes in both chambers and then they will need to be passed again in the next session of the General Assembly that begins in January 2025, assuming of course that both these bills pass in 2024.
| House Bill 238 – EXPANDING AND IMPOSING GEOGRAPHICAL REQUIREMENTS ON THE COURT OF CHANCERY | Currrent Status – House Administration 6/16/23 |
| House Sponsors – Lynn | Senate Sponsors – Paradee |
| House Yes Votes – | Senate Yes Votes – |
| House No Votes – | Senate No Votes – |
| House Absents or Not Voting – | Senate Absent or Not Voting – |
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